The Ricci Collection

Introducing Grand Amore Hotel and Spa

Challenge

Florence, Italy-based The Ricci Collection’s ownership team hired marlo marketing to successfully launch their newest property, an 11 room boutique hotel/spa called the Grand Amore, and position it as the ultimate in personalized hotel experiences. Additionally, they desired the Grand Amore to be closely aligned with fashion, an important element of Florence’s culture, and tasked us with engaging in fashion influencer outreach.

Solution

Armed with only the press materials that we created, website content that we rewrote in English and limited photography, we set out to blanket our press & influencer contacts across the globe to share the story of this beautiful property and their thoughtful team, the “Comfort Crew,” trained to not only cater to guests’ every whim, but to go above and beyond in customizing their experience. In addition to consistent influencer outreach, we arranged for customized group and individual visits and experiences through overnights, tours and meals to further tell the story of Grand Amore and their one-of-a-kind customized hospitality.

Results

We secured 29 stories in top tier US and European outlets during year one, such as inclusion in The New York Times annual Europe travel section, which was syndicated internationally. We arranged a visit during Pitti (Florence men’s wear & accessories show) by “The Sartorialist,” a top fashion influencer with nearly 1M Instagram followers and a blog readership of over 3 million people monthly. The Sartorialist tagged the hotel on his Instagram feed as well as on his blog, increasing the hotel’s social media followers by close to 400% and aligning the brand with their desired audience in an authentic, on point manner. We secured writers from Town + Country, Refinery 29 and marie claire to experience the Grand Amore during a curated press experience, securing further fashion-centric coverage. And, a result of a media visit we arranged, the writer featured Grand Amore in a National Geographic Traveller cover story on “Hidden Italy,” as the only hotel able to secure entry to the Vasari Corridor, a coveted experience that the Comfort Crew is able to procure. Last, but not least, Grand Amore rose in the ranks to the #1 hotel out of 421 hotels in Florence on TripAdvisor within six months of opening.